Crossing Off The List
by supernobodyhome
Summary: Teams RWBY and JNPR are at the dance, and between romance and Cinder's plans, it will be a memorable night, whether people want it to be or not, because Cinder is ready to cross some names off her list. This may turn out not be an isolated incident though...Features arkos shipping, dark moments, character death, and hurt/comfort. Written before volume 2 chapter 6.
1. Starting At The Top

**A/N: This is a short mini-fic I see only going on 2-3 chapters, unless you guys like it and want it to go beyond that. Also, this was written before volume 2 chapter 6, so if you notice contradictions, they're probably from chapter 6+**

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**Crossing Off The List**  
**Chapter 1: Starting At The Top**

The DJ played the record in the main hall as the band got ready on stage. The doors to the dance had just opened, and couples began pilling in, the groups of friends that decided to go together congregating pair by pair at one of the many tables set up. One such table had the team RWBY all walking towards it. Ruby wore a elegant red dress, the top short sleeved and textured, with an atheistic belt at the waist, with the bell shaped skirt hiding her red dress shoes. Yang was wearing a yellow halter dress with a slit running up her leg, a complimenting pair of black heels visible just under the dress' long skirt. Blake still wore her bow, but had on a strapless, long skirt dress that hid the matching black heels she borrowed from Yang. Finally Weiss arrived with Neptune, him wearing the same rental tux Sun was, and Weiss wearing her hair flat in her white dress, simple except for the lace layer that covered the base layer and made her almost look like a ballerina.

"Where's your tail?" Blake asked, not able to find Sun's tail when she seen him.

"Tucking it in against my back. Can't believe that the only place that rents them with tail holes didn't have my size." Sun explained. Blake smiled, amused and glad she caved into taking a break to enjoy herself tonight.

"Well you look nice", she said smiling. Sun blushed slightly, before noticing that the band had started playing a rock song.

"Come on!" He said grabbing her hand and dragging her onto the dance floor. Ruby and Yang both followed their league and starting dancing with them.

"Let's not be shown up Snow Angel" Neptune said taking hold of Weiss' hand, making her blush.

"Of course!" She blurted out, following his league.

At another table, Jaune sat watching his team's table while Ren was dragged onto the dance floor by Nora, who was practically making his feet come off the floor with how she was swinging him. Jaune struck out with asking Weiss out, and Pyrrha was still finishing up getting dressed, so he sat there by himself. It gave him time to think though, despite the loud guitar notes and drum bangs, and he wondered why he bothered putting in so much effort to go after Weiss. Yes, she was pretty, and she was one the richest people in the whole kingdom, but was there anything else there besides simple superficial factors?

No, Jaune supposed there wasn't. The only reason he could think of that he continued after Weiss was that she was the first girl he set his eyes on, and his confident persistence seemed to keep him going because of his stupid macho ideal that if he gave up on trying to woo Weiss that he'd accepted defeat in a way. Thinking about it, this all made him act like a very shallow person, and he didn't like that. Heroes like his father and grandfather were warriors that always focused on the bigger picture, their personal wants and desires taking a back seat to those of others.

Jaune checked his watch. Pyrrha said she'd only be a few minutes, but it had been almost fifteen. He looked at Nora laughing at the now stationary Ren on the dance floor as a slow song eased into everyone's ears. Jaune made his way out of the hall while everyone got together for the song, and stopped as he looked up the stairs. His breathing seemed to stop, and she was the only thing his vision could focus on for a moment. To say Pyrrha looked stunning in her red satin dress would be both accurate and undermining.

"How do I look?" Pyrrha asked as she walked down, hoping Jaune would like her dress.

"Amazing!" Jaune blurted out, not noticing a slight blush on Pyrrha's cheeks, his words making her smile "Whoever you're gonna be with tonight is one lucky guy!" Pyrrha's smile dropped. "Come on, he must be going nuts waiting. Besides, if you're lucky you'll see Nora swinging Ren around on the dance floor", Jaune chuckled as he turned his attention back to the hall.

* * *

"I still don't get why no one asked you sis", Ruby said to Yang as the took a break from dancing to sit and socialize.

"Probably didn't think they could keep up with me", Yang chuckled, "Besides, it's a better to just be here with my sister and friends than just worrying over a stupid guy." Sun and Neptune looked at her. "You guys are cool though!" She gave them both thumbs up.

"Naturally", Neptune said smirking.

"Careful dude, if your ego gets too big you'll rip your tux", Sun joked, "It'd be embarrassing for it to be out in public like that."

"Nah, but I wouldn't want Weiss to faint from seeing it." Neptune made a comeback, Weiss blushing.

"Why are you blushing Weiss?" Ruby asked innocently.

"S-Shut up Ruby!"

* * *

Jaune didn't know what was going on with Pyrrha. She was acting like she was fine, but something was off about her, like something was bothering her. She'd said she was going to find her date for a slow dance, but after she disappeared behind a few people Jaune didn't see her at all, even when he walked around the hall looking for her. He left the hall to search for her in the corridor, and saw her slowly making her way up the stairs.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune called out to her, walking over to the bottom of the stairs. She quickly wiped at her eyes before turning around and facing Jaune, but he made sure to examine her face carefully this time, and noticed the faint traces of tears down her cheeks. He automatically assumed that her date had done something to hurt her, and his temper flared. "What did the jerk do to hurt you?" His tone shifted, angry.

"You don't understand Jaune," Pyrrha slowly made her way towards him, "I didn't come with anyone."

"I don't understand. You're a four time tournament champion. There must have been dozens of guys that asked you out." Jaune tried to think of a reason why Pyrrha wouldn't come with anyone.

"Seemingly everyone asked me out except for the one guy I have my eye on." She looked at the ground, "He hasn't reciprocated any of the interest I've shown him."

"Well he must either be a real jerk, or the most oblivious person on the planet then." Jaune took her hand, "Come on, just forget about him for now, and we can both have fun tonight, okay?" Pyrrha sniffled a little, the ache in her chest lessening a little. Without words Jaune led Pyrrha back to the hall, the slow song almost over. "Come on", Jaune held out his hand, "There's still a little bit more to the song." Pyrrha looked at him for a moment, before smiling and putting her hand on his shoulder, as Jaune put his hand on her hip. They slowly rocked side to side, Jaune and Pyrrha looking into each other's' eyes.

"No one you should be dancing with instead of me?" Pyrrha asked innocently.

"Nah. Weiss shot me down, so I came with you all to just enjoy a night with my friends. Besides, sitting at the table gave me a chance to think things through, and I'm done going after Weiss." Jaune opened up.

"How come? I thought you had your eye on her and everything?" Pyrrha said trying to keep her heart beat steady and from letting it show that she was happy at Jaune's little announcement.

"Yeah, but my stupid persistent confidence sort of had me thinking that if I stopped going after Weiss I'd just be another loser. I realized though that the only things I saw in her were superficial, and that just made me a big jerk to only think of stupid stuff like that." Jaune looked into Pyrrha's eyes.

"You really thought this out", Pyrrha said looking back at him.

"Yeah, I guess I did." They slowly rotated a little.

"Well if everything worked out with you", Pyrrha got closer to Jaune practically, hugging him, "Maybe it'll work out for me…" She leaned her head on his shoulder, hugging him. Jaune smiling and hugged her back.

"I hope it does too", they slowly continued to move, the sax of the song softening along with the piano keys, "You're a dear friend on my Pyrrha, and I hate that you were hurt and crying like you were." Pyrrha listed her head up, a single small tear forming under one of her eyes and she looked into Jaune's, before putting her head back down.

"Thank you Jaune, for being here for me."

* * *

Large sections of the roof began to fall inward as an explosion filled everyone's ears. Jaune and Pyrrha instinctually got into fighting stances. Yang's semblance flared and punched the sections of the roof that feel into smaller, less dangerous pieces, Ren assisting by knocking any chunks heading for people out of the way. On the roof, standing on the edge of the hole she created with little effort, was Cinder Fall and her two subordinates Emerald and Mercury.

"It's time to start crossing off the list." Cinder said as they jumped down from the roof, looking directly at Pyrrha, "Starting with Miss Nikos herself".

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**A/N: So what did you guys think? And what do you want to happen? Make sure to let me know in a review below!**


	2. Soul Wrenching Experience

**A/N: So this is the last thing I will have written before starting school up again. I hope to at least post a new chapter of something once or maybe even twice a week, but I can't promise anything, despite how I wish I could. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. It officially forced me to change the rating on the story to M, because it wouldn't be a Black Phoenix fanfic if this didn't get dark and depressing at some point, or even multiple points.**

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**Crossing Off The List**  
**Chapter 2: Soul Wrenching Experience**

Gunshots were heard just outside the walls, coming from the grounds. Teams RWBY and JNPR backed up into one group to cover each other's backs as White Fang foot soldiers bursted through the doors, rifles at the ready. They filed in two at a time to surrounding Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury; their weapons pointed at all the students, making them freeze. Cinder stepped onto a pseudo platform comprised of ruble to raise herself above the army to speak.

"Students of Beacon. I hate to interrupt this dance and to damage such a, historic, building; but the management of this school,"

Several soldiers kicked open Ozpin's office door and shot at the headmaster as he sat drinking his cup of coffee; the cup smashing to the ground and the brown liquid inside mixing with the crimson contents of its human counterpart.

"as well as certain members of the student body, have become –undesirable– to my organization and would cause problems for both us and the White Fang as we attempt to rework how power is spread through the kingdoms, most notably the discriminated yet superior trait-wise faunas." Cinder motioned out with her arm to the soldiers around her, many of them cheering and pointing their rifles toward the sky, before she motioned for them to be quiet. "Those of you who will stay out of our way will not be harmed, and will granted equality with your faunas brethren."

"And what if we refuse to bow down to mongrels-" Cardin Winchester began, before being quickly shot in the head by the soldier in from of him. Everyone by him, a few of them receiving a light coating of his blood, began screaming and panicking as his body fell to the ground. A fireball that engulfed the air above made them quiet down as Cinder got their attention once more.

"I understand that it is hard for many children to stay quiet and pay attention, but it would be in your best interest to. People like the student you just saw die before you are not fit for our new government, nor our new society. If you protest such as he did, the men you see before you will not hesitate to shoot." Cinder was handed a clip board Emerald had previously been holding onto. "Seems that the one we had just shot was a mister Cardin Winchester, whose entire team was known for their discrimination against faunas students. I was originally going to begin with Pyrrha Nikos, but thanks to Winchester's final moments, I implore his teammates Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark to come towards me peacefully, or otherwise face the same fate as your leader."

Reluctantly, the three slowly stepped forward, and walked through the gap in the soldiers that lead to Cinder.

"We have to get to our weapons", Ruby whispered to the group as the remainder of CRDL slowly walked, "Without them, we're no match for them."

"Yang and Ren, you two don't need to rely on your weapons to the same degree as we do during combat." Jaune's leadership instincts kicked in, "If you two create a distraction, the rest of us as well as well as the other students will have a chance to run. Do you two think you could hold them off long enough for us to get our weapons from the second floor?"

"We'll make it happen Jaune", Ren answered.

"I've been dying to punch these guys since the moment they bursted in vomit boy", Yang confirmed, slipping off her heels, as did the rest of the girls.

"I can help too", Sun lightly patted his back pocket, "Since I'm technically a criminal, I'd end up bad for me if I got caught by the police without Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, plus my semblance can help disorientate and scatter them."

"Sounds like we have a plan", Ruby looked at Neptune, "Neptune, you need to go get Professor Ozpin, Glynda, or any of the teachers."

"Got it", Neptune nodded lightly.

"We still need to worry about their weapons", Jaune looked at Pyrrha, "Can you use your semblance to disarm them?"

"Only chunks at a time." She whispered.

"On my signal then", Ruby said before Cinder began to speak again.

"I'd like you to explain your semblance to everyone." She said looking at him, something not right in what she was requesting, but Russel couldn't determine what it was. Still, he bent down and picked up a piece of cement the same size as his fist.

"My semblance lets me heat things up", he said as the cement began to smoke.

"A bit ironic, isn't it? Considering Russel means red… like heat." Cinder grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up until he was barely on his toes, "A heat you will never produce again after today." Russel opened his eyes despite the pain, his pupils shrinking in horror as he realized what she was implying, the look in her glowing eyes sending chills up his spine as her free hand glowed orange with her aura. She slowly reached forward, her fingers pointed at his chest, but she stopped just before they would have made contact. "Struggle, the more pain you feel, the more enjoyment I get out of this", she whispered, grinning maniacally at him, before shoving, almost stabbing even, her fingers into his chest where his heart laid. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen outside the minor pain from her prodding fingers. The next second his pupils dilated until there was almost no color left in his eyes as he screamed in soul-wrenching agony. He tried to pull himself off of her, to get those fingers of Lucifer away from him, but all it did was make it worse, make him wish he were in hell instead of where he was currently.

After the eternity that was a couple seconds, the pain stopped, and he was dropped onto the floor, barely conscious. He got onto his knees, pissed off at the pain she had just made him feel. He wanted to make a rock catch fire and throw it right at her head. He tried that, grabbing the still slightly smoldering rock he'd picked up earlier, focusing on tuning it as hot as he could without melting it, and threw it. Cinder caught it, smirking down at him. "Not even warm", she said before having the rock catch fire in her hand, and throwing it at Russel's head. He held the bleeding wound and looked up at Cinder in anger and fear.

"What did you do to me?" he yelled before she kicked him across the side of his face, knocking away from her, unconscious and bleeding badly.

"I tore and cut at his soul with my aura, and took away his semblance, permanently." Everyone began mumbling, only to be quieted by another of Cinder's fireballs lighting up the room. "There are two types of people on this list, those who must be eradicated, and those that be reduced to nothing but buzzing flies through the loss of their semblance."

"Pyrrha, chang-"

"I'm not leaving everyone to deal with machine gun fire." Pyrrha interrupted Jaune, "I'll be alright, I won't get too close to her." She nodded reassuringly at Jaune, making him sigh in protest, but otherwise say nothing.

"Team CRDL are no threat, but because of their attitude to the faunas, it would be nothing but shameful of me to let them continue on with no reprehension." Cinder grabbed Dove by the hair, and her eyes and hand glowed just as they did with Russel.

"Now!" Ruby whispered to everyone. Sun slammed his hands together to create his clones, one detonating next to Cinder, knocking Dove away from the still unscathed witch, and the other in the group of soldiers next to her. Pyrrha used her semblance to rip the guns out of as many soldiers' hands as she could before Yang jumped in and began to knock them out one by one as her semblance flared, Ren jumping in with her and striking his opponents in pressure points to immobilize them. Sun took out his gun-chucks and cleared the immediate path in front of them of soldiers.

"Be careful Pyrrha", Jaune said as he, Neptune, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Nora ran to get their weapons and the teachers.

"I will Jaune", Pyrrha said as she continued to disarm the soldiers.

Cinder just stood back and watched, smirking.

"Soon, disruptions like this will become impossible." She looked at Yang and Pyrrha, "Two more named to be crossed off."

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**A/N: So yeah, Ozpin has been shot multiple times, and Cardin has been shot in the head. You know, if I didn't turn my emotions for these characters off, I might have felt bad doing what I did to them. Oh, and in case anyone was wondering why I made Russel's semblance heating things up, Russel is an old english name for red (so naturally heat), and Thrush is a name of a type of bird commonly associated with poets and singers, who can work, or heat, people up.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I would absolutely love to hear your opinions on this chapter in a review below. Some people say this just because they want reviews on something, but I legitimately care about what you guys have to say. Also, if you have any suggestions for the next couple of chapters of this, I'm open to them.**

**Until next time, Black Phoenix, signing out.**


	3. The Falls

**A/N: Sorry to have you guys wait for over a month. I really feel like I don't deserve the over 1,100 views you guys have given this story, nor the comments left by you guys of the follows or faves. I'd keep on, but you came here for the chapter, not me.**

**Disclaimer: I only own this idea. RWBY is the property of Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth Studios. Please support the official release. Enjoy!**

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**Crossing Off The List**  
**Chapter 3: The Falls**

Glynda sat in her classroom grading papers, glancing at a news article she was reading off of her scroll between each test. She paused as she finished a test halfway through the stack. She felt like she heard something, but at the same time she couldn't decide if her mind was playing a trick on her. She set her pen down and got up, slowly walking towards the classroom door. Something wasn't right. She heard footsteps approaching, dozens, too heavy to be students.

A soldier with many others behind him opened fire as he kicked open the door, forcing Glynda to jump to the side to avoid their gunfire. While in the air, she drew her riding crop and aimed at the soldiers, sending them flying out into the hall and into the walls. She landed gracefully and straightened her stance, crop at the ready as she cautiously approached the unconscious men before her. Assessing that the immediate threat was taken care of, she quickly retrieved her scroll, dialing Ozpin's number; no answer. The possible reasons for him not answering made Glynda's mind enter a rare state of urgency, anxiety, and paranoia. She stepped over the littered bodies and headed for Ozpin's office.

The gentle feeling of the air hitting against her throat as it went down to her lungs, and her elevated heart rate seemed to disappear, as drops of her blood flowed forward, following the bullet that pierced and ripped through her flesh. She dropped to her knees, pupils unfocused and grip loosening on her weapon. A foot soldier that had pretended to be knocked out got up, chuckling to himself despite the pain in his chest.

"You know, I'm pretty sure you've broken a few of my ribs", he said walking over to her, before pressing the barrel of his pistol to her head, "Don't worry about that Ozpin son of a bitch. You'll be joining him very soon."

A gunshot rang out, a body falling moments later.

Glynda stared down at the corpse, blood leaking out of the side of his helmet, eyes emotionless as she slid the pistol into her pocket and tightened her grip on the riding crop.

"_My duty as a huntress is to fight to keep this world from being destroyed, no matter the cost," she thought as she started running towards Ozpin's office once again, "This is a fight where we can't hold back, even if it means we have to throw away preconceived notions about the value of our enemies' lives. If we can't do that, we can and will lose much more than they will._"

* * *

Yang, Pyrrha, Ren, and Sun swiftly took out a majority of the army, the rest fleeing when they saw how few were left standing. Now all that stood in their way of taking out Cinder was Emerald and Mercury.

"Seems you just can't rely on others too much," Cinder said turning her head towards her two associates. They nodded their heads before Mercury ran at Pyrrha, who had sat on the side supporting with her semblance, while Emerald went after the others. She fired at them to force them onto the defense as she ran. Sun saw that Cinder was alone now, and ran past Emerald, both of them blocking the others' strike during their brief exchange, before Sun pointed his shot guns as Cinder. He aimed for non-lethal points like the arms and legs, but she coated them with aura, making the shells wasted. He changed the guns into his pole and swung at her. She caught it and yanked him forward. She grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up. He tore at her hand, but she coated it in aura to serve as a barrier. She looked him his face. Her expression became one of intrigue for a moment, before shifting back to neutrality.

"Wouldn't want to lose an army over a small PR incident", she said contemplating her options. She bent forward and slammed her hand down into the cement rubble, embedding Sun's head into it. He went still as traces of blood could be seen on the rocks. Cinder wasn't dumb enough to kill or steal the semblance of a faunas. Almost all of her forces could desert her if that happened, and that had to wait for now.

Pyrrha pushed at Mercury with her semblance, but he didn't budge as she narrowly dodged one of his kicks. She took an opening and landed a punch on his shoulder. He didn't flinch as it impacted. He smiled before kicking her arm away, making her twist with it. She barely managed a glimpse over her shoulder before Neptune kicked her in the back, making it bend unnaturally as she flew into the wall, before falling with a thud. She slowly lifted her head as he walked over to her, blood flowing from her broken nose and into her mouth, the iron taste unfamiliar to the champion.

"Kevlar armor under my cloths and carbon boots as hard as diamond." Neptune looked down at Pyrrha as she lifted her arm to get up. He stomped and twisted his heel into her wrist, making her scream out in pain.

Yang was done. She wasn't going to deal Emerald for one more second. All the girl had done was dodge her attacks while firing off potshots to keep Ren at a distance. Yang's aura flared as she heard Pyrrha scream, and she charged at Mercury. She reeled a punch back, ready to wipe that arrogant smile off his face, until he kicked her arm to the side, redirecting the movement. Her blood red eyes watched as he aimed for her ribs. Her reflexes kicked in and she rolled as she was knocked back. Her aura changed from a low, steady orange that outlined her to a flaring yellow that roared like a cloak of flames.

Mercury concentrated on Yang as she ran at him a second time, keeping his eye on her fists. Even without her weapon, no blunt object could compare to her punches with their precision and power that radiated beyond the point of impact. If it wasn't for her semblance, it wouldn't extreme for him to guess that punches like the one she had just tried to land on him could break the bones in her hands. If he kept redirecting her attacks though, it wouldn't matter how many times she came at him or how powerful each strike was.

* * *

Neptune ran towards Ozpin's office. Once they'd all reached their weapons, he'd split up from the others to get Professor Ozpin while they went back downstairs with the weapons to assist and arm their allies. He'd already taken out several soldiers in the halls as he ran towards the headmaster's office, but the amount of defeated greatly outnumbered those walking around. Someone had else had been on their way to Ozpin's office. Based on the bullet holes in some of the unconscious solders' armor, he couldn't label them friend or foe though. He settled down when he saw Glynda Goodwitch at the door to Professor Ozpin's office…until he saw the gun in her hand.

"Professor Goodwitch?" Neptune asked, stopping a few feet away from her. She didn't answer. He looked beyond her, everything becoming still for a moment as he painfully became aware of his heartbeat. Dr. Oobleck stood over Ozpin's corpse.

"He kept fighting…even after more than a dozen bullets dug their way into him…" Oobleck said sorrowfully, the weight of his death not lost on him or Glynda. He reached over and picked up his superior's cane sword, cleaning the blood off of it and sliding it back into its sheath. He laid it next to Ozpin, before sliding his eyelids closed, so that his cold, lifeless eyes could finally sleep in peace. Neptune seen a tear slide down Glynda's cheek, but she quickly wiped it away, hiding her frown and the hurt visible in her eyes with a furrowed brow and a look of determination.

"Mr. Vesalias, lead me to the people who have done this." Glynda said looking at him.

"I need to go make sure Peter is alright," Oobleck said, taking care to avoid the blood on the ground, "after I can verify his status, I'll hurry down to assist."

"After I confront these people, the kings and queens of this operation, there shouldn't be anything left to assist with if I do my job as a huntress." Glynda said walking out of the office, following Neptune. She was going to make the ones responsible pay. James was right. She needed to get rid of the source of their problems, permanently.

* * *

It was starting to get annoying, being able to only dodge.

"_Does this girl never tire?_" Mercury thought. He didn't have any chance to go on the offensive with her relentless assault. She was planning her punches to force him to dodge, so that when she punched next he'd be forced to move immediately without pause.

Mercury continued this song and dance, back and forth. He dodged the first punch of the fiery duet she'd been repeating, but his eyes widened as he felt a tug on his ankle that kept him from moving. He looked down to see Pyrrha angrily staring as she kept him from moving.

"You bi-"

Yang punched him square in the jaw, sending him flying into the wall. After a few seconds he began to slowly get up, the moon light that poured through the new hole highlighting his grey hair, giving it a silver appearance that contrasted the blood that clung to a large portion of it, some leaking down the side of his face and dripping from his chin. His head tilted unnaturally to the side, and his lower mouth unaligned with the top. After he managed to stand, he gripped his jaw, moving it back into place as he groaned in pain, before sighing as it fell back into place. He then grabbed his head on both the top and bottom, before in one quick motion, twisting it with a crack to its original position. He looked down at the blood on his hand.

"That really hurt you know." He said. Yang began to march towards him.

"Yang!" Pyrrha called, desperately trying to force herself up onto her feet despite her injuries. Yang's hearing shut off as her anger at Mercury took her over, making Pyrrha's voice silent as she concentrated on him.

She paused, her fire cloak sizzling out as she began to fall forward, an obsidian dagger sticking out of her back, just to the side of her heart. She fell with a hollow thud.

"Yang!" Ren looked away for a moment from Emerald, costing him two shots in the chest. He wheezed lightly as he fell and laid flat on the ground, small amounts of blood pooling around the wounds despite his best attempts at stopping the bleeding with his aura.

"Cinder…?" Mercury said as his master approached.

"Like I said, you can't rely on others too much." She said approaching him. She stared at him a second, before head-butting him, grabbing him by the hair as he fell back in pain, covering his forehead with one hand as he groaned at having his hair pulled. "Look at me", she shook him, making him look through blurry, unfocused vision at those yellow, piercing eyes. "It's hard to plan out my revived kingdom when I'm forced to intervene in a fight I shouldn't have had to." She let go and back-handed him across the face as he fell to the ground. "The Fall family once ruled over all the kingdoms as its kings and queens. I will not let your shortcomings stand in the way of the resurrection of my family's name."

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**A/N: So yeah...I didn't make things look good for the bunch fighting Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury...or the Beacon teachers...or anyone outside Cinder and Emerald, considering Mercury is at this point struggling to stay conscious...Man, this is actually a bit depressing. Anyway, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Nora, Jaune, Neptune, and Goodwitch are on their way. Let's hope that everyone can hang on...**

**So now I have a question to you guys. Considering Ren, Yang, and Pyrrha's positions, if you could save only one of them, or at least have them come out of this okay, who would you choose? Depending on the votes I get in the reviews, it just might influence my hand when writing the next chapter.**

**Oh, and don't forget to tell me your thoughts and opinions on the chapter while you're telling me who you don't want slaughtered in front of their friends. Don't believe me when I say that? Ozpin is dead and his corpse is littered with bullets. The only person I would have a tougher time killing would be Oobleck. So yeah, choose wisely~**


	4. Victory For Naught

**A/N: Thanks to my bro YARN (By the way, follow him if you haven't already. He's an amazing RWBY fanfic writer) giving me his opinion on this, I'm feeling really good about this chapter. I really hope that you guys enjoy this one, and thanks for the over 1,600 views!**

**Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan based parody. RWBY is the property of Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth Productions. Please support the official release!**

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Crossing Off The List  
Chapter 4: Victory For Naught

Cinder walked over to Pyrrha, grabbing her hair and dragging her over to the middle of the room, setting her against the rubble. She repeated with Yang, both of them being illuminated in the moon light when she was done. When it came to Ren though, she barely spared a glance.

"Let him lay there and die, whether he bleeds out or suffocates with that punctured lung, he is the least of my concerns." Cinder said, her hands glowing as she heard running. "Perfect timing".

The looks on their faces, all those children looking in horror as she took Yang and Pyrrha's semblance. The red head didn't really have it in her to struggle, just screaming until it was done, the tired and defeated look in her eyes as a few tears slipped out. The blond more than made up for her anti-climatic friend though. It was amusing to see those eyes of hers shifting back and forth between red and lilac while her semblance sporadically flared at different parts of her body. When her eyes finally settled on staying lilac, and the flames disappeared, she felt delightful at her wide, panicked state. Even if her main plan to take over Beacon had failed, it gave solace that her contingency plan was almost complete. She just had to take care of a few more people, most notably the scythe wielding who was charging at her.

Cinder calmed turned and walked for a moment, stopping and coating her hand with an aura shield to block the blade of that ridiculously sized scythe when compared to its enraged and silently tearing up owner. Ruby shot off of Crescent Rose, turning with it as its blade sliced through Cinder's aura and shallowly into her hand. Cinder pulled away and shot fire at Ruby in the air, making her fire Crescent Rose again to roll away and escape with only singed clothing.

"I hate paper cuts", she said, the gash healing quickly as she used the same hand to catch a punch Yang threw at her from behind. "You're not solid stone anymore," she said feeling the bones in Yang's hand cracking, the blond brawler gritting her teeth to hide the pain, "You're nothing but fragile glass". Cinder sensed Ruby and Blake coming at her from behind, gripping Yang's broken hand and tossing her at Ruby, before summoning her obsidian scimitars and blocking Blake from all angles as she used her clones. After several clashes the two locked each other,"I guess that I should stop playing".

"Yang!" Ruby said dropping her weapon and falling back to cushion her sister's fall. Yang tried to get up, but Ruby kept her arms wrapped around her sister.

"Let go of me Ruby!" She said struggling.

"No!" Yang refused to listen.

"What's the point of fighting if you're only going to make things worse!" Ruby yelled, before Yang got loose. Cinder kicked Blake away, turning to Yang and slamming the hilt of her sword into what had been Yang's only good arm, an audible crack heard drowned out by Yang finally screaming in pain. Ruby grabbed her and tore her away from the fighting as Blake and Cinder kept clashing, Blake becoming much more aggressive, leaving Cinder little time to strike back as Blake swung.

"Yang…", Ruby said, a pit in her stomach at seeing her sister so…broken. Yang looked down at the floor as she laid against the wall.

"My semblance and power really are gone…" Yang lamented, "I can't even use my arms right now…"

At the other end of the hall, despite Jaune's best efforts, Pyrrha had to grit her teeth and bite back the pain she felt just from being moved.

"We're all here now Pyrrha, and I'll die before I let anything thing else happen to you." Jaune said carrying her in a bridal position, holding her against his chest.

"Jinx", Mercury before Jaune began to fall, turning as he fell to keep from landing on Pyrrha. "You know, what's the point of armor if your abdomen is left wide open to attack?" He slowly walked towards the now bleeding Arc, the plastic gun hanging loosely at his side until he cocked it, the ceramic bullet being loaded into the chamber. Jaune turned, keeping himself between Pyrrha and Mercury as he approached. He stood up, his shield expanding as he drew his sword.

"An Arc never goes back on or forgets his word or promises", Jaune said approaching Mercury.

"You're insane, right? I may be the bloodied up one here, but I'm still leagues ahead of you, and while you've got an oversized knife, I've got a gun to shoot you with. Live in your fantasy world if you want, because your brain won't even be around to process the thoughts in a minute." Mercury said before pointing the gun at Jaune's head.

"Jaune! Get out of the way!" Pyrrha yelled. Jaune's eyelids slid closed for a moment as he focused on his confrontation with Cardin in Forever Fall, the way he'd resigned himself to not being pushed around, to standing where he planted his feet.

Jaune opened his eyes, the blue in them softly glowing white as an outline of the same color appeared around him.

"Bring it on you wanna be hero", Mercury said firing the gun. The bullet bounced and shattered as it ricocheted into a wall, not a mark on Jaune's forehead as he continued to walk. Mercury kept firing, but they all bounced away no matter where he shot, making Jaune form a slight grin. He got within his personal space, giving Mercury a knee to the stomach before bashing him to the ground with his shield.

"Did the armor I feel felt protect against that?" Jaune said before grabbing Mercury by the shirt and slamming against the wall. Mercury stared at him angrily through one open eye, still raising the pistol to fire another round. He froze as it bounced back once again and hit the wall next to him, shattering and cutting his face lightly. "You were the one who cause Pyrrha most of the pain she's in now aren't you?" Jaune stared into him, his blue iris almost completely white as he let out that part of him. The part that wanted to make Mercury suffer like Pyrrha had, to make him feel even more pain then so had, to make him beg Jaune to stop only to be ignored as his personalized torture plan was carried out. The part that felt like slitting his throat right then and there, his hand twitching as he raised the blade.

It was just one quick movement.

Jaune had slammed Mercury's head into his knee, knocking him out cold and a tooth or two out of his pocket.

"I can't become like you. Shadow only consumes and strengthens the shadows around it, but light extinguishes all darkness nearby, as long as it is bright enough." The white faded from his iris as the aura outline he's manifested dissipated. He felt his stomach, the wound healed completely as the blood around it dried. Jaune's semblance could be very powerful, acting as both a body-wide shield and a quick way to heal, but it put an enormous strain on his aura reserves. He took a few deep breaths. He'd only used his semblance for thirty seconds max and he already felt exhausted. He had to leave it inactive if he wanted to save any of his strength. The fight was not over yet.

No…

This wasn't a fight. A fight is an isolated event. This was a battle. The first of many in a war, there was no other way to describe it. All around them lay their wounded comrades while they fought.

Nora was swinging Magnhild at Emerald in a berserker-like rage, while Weiss fired dust spells at her, using her glyphs to keep from being left behind due to how fast they both were in comparison as they moved. Emerald was forced onto the defensive, but her guns let her intercept any of the spells thrown her way, while rolling, summer-salting, and jumping out of Nora's range, lingering in one position just long enough fired a shot or two off before needing to move out of the way. Everything slowed in the middle of battle for Weiss as she used a speed glyph on herself. She fired a fire spell at Emerald, making her shoot as she straitened herself and landed on her feet. Weiss had counted on that when she fired the ice spell as Emerald focused on the fire one, trapping her legs in ice. Without a moment to register her position, Emerald felt Magnhild slam into her, Nora pulling the trigger on impact making the attack force her through the wall and slightly embedded into the walkway beyond it.

Cinder seen Emerald take that hit. She wasn't going to get up, if she was even conscious. Currently she was locked between Ruby and Blake on either side of her. Cinder swung a kick at Ruby, making her back away for a moment, giving her a free sword to cut into Blake's abdomen. She knocked the frozen faunas away as her white shirt turned crimson.

"Blake!" Ruby said seeing her teammate fall. Cinder turned, dropping her swords and shooting an inferno at Ruby.

A familiar purple glyph shield formed in front of Ruby, protecting her as the fire moved passed it.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you would show up Glynda." Cinder said as she bent down to pick up her swords, sneaking a look at the emotionless look Glynda had put on, anger still leaking through to her eyes. "Where's old Oz-pinhead? Dead?" She grinned ear to ear.

All the students looked at Glynda, eyes wide. She looked down at the ground a moment, letting them know that was the harsh reality. Glynda looked back up at the roof, forcing sections to break themselves away and form into spires, before launching them at Cinder, who incinerated them out of existence.

"Didn't take you as one to strike and kill" Cinder said, before noticing the wound on her opponent's abdomen. "The abdomen seems to be pretty popular place to strike as of late."

Glynda waved her crop, a spear forming from the rubble behind her, and shooting at Cinder from behind.

"Cheap shots too? I though huntresses were supposed to be noble." Cinder laughed despite the spear that went through her side, her blood spilt onto the ground for the first time that night, more willingly spilt as she roughly tore the construct out.

Roman and Neo dropped down, grabbing Mercury and Emerald respectively, before being pulled up by ropes attached to their waists. Roman took aim with his free hand and fired at the roof, bringing down what was left of it all at once. Glynda formed a shield to hold the roof up until they could escape. Those left standing hurried out with the injured, Ruby with Yang, Weiss with Blake, Nora with Ren, Jaune with Pyrrha, and Neptune with Sun.

In the middle of the evacuation, Cinder grabbed a rope lowered for her from the airship, retreating. Her mission wasn't a full success, but any loose ends were able to be tied another day.

Glynda wasn't letting her get away. She put both hands on her riding crop, slowly moving it upward, the roof rising with it.

"We have a problem!" Roman yelled, panicking as Cinder stepped onto the holding bay, the roof approaching them quickly as Glynda forced it towards them.

"Neo, the tail." Cinder ordered. The roof collided with the tail of the ship, shattering in an afterimage as the roof hit it, before falling onto the grounds and waters surrounding them. The real ship sped away, quickly disappearing from sight as it left. Roman relaxed, sitting down in a seat against the wall as the bay door closed, dabbing at the small amount of sweat that had formed on his forehead with a handkerchief. Neo sat next to him, Cinder choosing to remain standing, wondering how much of a hassle it would be to have to wait for her subordinates to heal before her next move.

"Why didn't you just kill them?" Roman asked putting his handkerchief away. "It would've been nice not to deal with a section of a fricking building flying at us!"

"In the grand scheme of things, we need our own publicity, to instill fear into the government and schools as they hear firsthand of what was done tonight." She turned toward him and took a few steps forward. "They will assume the best in their minds, that they weren't killed because they were strong enough. When we next strike, and the location is left clean of human life, all they will have left is fear."

Glynda breathed heavily. It took a lot of her aura to do that, all for naught.

They had lost.

* * *

**A/N: So yeah, another depressing chapter. Oh, and sorry for making it seem like I was gonna kill Yang, Pyrrha, or Ren off. ShaunyRedComet was kind enough to point out that just killing them off would be boring, and yes it would be. It brings joy to that demented part of me to torture these characters as evil as that makes me sound.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and I'd really appreciate it if you left a review down below to tell me what you thought of the chapter. Also, unless you guys want more, next chapter will be the final one of the story, and if you have any questions, leave them in a review, and I'll answer them in the author's note in the end of next chapter.**


	5. Taking Stock

**A/N: So sorry for having this up a little over a week since the last chapter instead of exactly a week. This project I have to do for school is killing me, and I'm been busy for the past three days working from when I got home from school to about midnight before going straight to bed.**

**Also, I'm stopping work on Mistakes temporarily, only so that I can focus on this fanfic and bring it to completion, because you guys seem to favor it over Mistakes, and I've rarely felt as happy as I did finishing Snake as with anything else. It truly felt like an accomplishment.**

So chapter 11. Zwei cannonball. Yeah. A corgi that is essentially made of living adamantium is interesting. Oh yeah, and the gloriousness of people running for their lives from the Grimm put a smile on my face. Also, Oobleck taking down a mech by himself when it took all of RWBY how many times longer to do it all together really shows his power in comparison to theirs.

**Oh, and if you watch my deviantart there will be a review of the chapter either tomorrow morning or tomorrow night.**

**And on the topic of people being screwed and darkness permeating the air so thickly that you could take a tasty bite out of it, here's the next chapter.**

* * *

**Crossing Off The List**  
**Chapter 5: Taking Stock**

"Last night the prestigious Beacon academy came under attack!"

"Several of the school's most talented students lie recuperating in the hospital!"

"Can the military maintain its power while being infiltrated from the inside?"

"Where will the White Fang and its deadly trio strike next?"

Jaune shut off the tv in the hospital room. The news had come on, and had been recapping what had already been told about last night, along with a couple of the questions everyone had.

"You didn't have to turn it off." Pyrrha spoke somewhat nasally from her hospital bed, her nose swelled slightly. She wasn't in the armor that gave her the appearance as a mighty Amazonian warrior, but instead the standard hospital gown, overlain with a back brace to help along her fractured spine's healing, and a cast that encompassed her right wrist and forearm. From the waist down she was covered up in a light blanket.

"You should get some rest Pyrrha, not worry over what the news is saying," Jaune said from his chair beside her, "besides, any information we need can be gotten from Goodwitch. She's the one in charge now..." Jaune became solemn. Things were bad no matter now you cut it.

"I'm honestly not tired Jaune", she said yawning, it and the bags under her eyes betraying her. As clichéd as it sounded, she really couldn't stop herself from replaying last night in her head. The biggest thing though wasn't the loss of her semblance. It was a terrible, indescribable experience, but to see Yang go through that, to see her friend have to feel that and have her greatest and arguably most relied on ability when things got bad taken away while she laid next to her with a broken back. She couldn't even begin to fight back. One of her strongest abilities was gone, but even if she still had it, she wasn't able to help her friends then, so how could now be a different story?...

"I know you don't want to sleep Pyrrha, none of us do." Jaune took a deep breath, "We go to sleep, and we're left right in the open for Cinder to slit our throats", he imagined lying in the chair, him and Pyrrha both asleep, Cinder holding an obsidian dagger to both their throats, and with one little movement...

"Jaune?" Pyrrha shook him lightly, making him snap out of the blood-stained nightmare he'd be enveloped in. "Are you alright?" Jaune shook his head,

"I'm fine Pyr." He rubbed his eyes, "I still say you should at least try to rest. You'll be out of here sooner if you do." She was about to protest again, but he interrupted her with a hug. "I know I can't possibly pretend to know what you are going through right now, but I know that you're worried for everyone. I am too, especially about you." He let one of his hands fall away to hold her hand, rubbing the back of her hand. Pyrrha awkwardly put her good arm around him, blushing lightly. "When I saw you on the ground, I...", Jaune shook his head slightly, "I felt myself freeze solid out of fear. I was afraid of what had been done to you, but then I was angry. Angrier than I'd ever felt in my life. When I had Mercury pressed against the wall, I was inches away from taking revenge and slitting his throat."

Pyrrha couldn't help but worry, and even frighten a bit, at the thought of Jaune being so consumed by his emotions. "I remembered you though. You wouldn't want something like that, to have someone die by any of our hands." He stiffened a little, "I guess what I'm trying to get out is that I really care about you Pyrrha, and that even after what happened you're still Pyrrha Nikos, four time champion, and an amazing partner who cares deeply for her friends. Nothing can change that." Jaune broke the hug, and leaned back into his chair, "I know sleep isn't appealing, but right now it's a necessary evil. All of us, we need to get recuperate and get stronger, and we might as well call it quits if we don't have you fighting along with us, better than ever."

Pyrrha wiped away a single tear,

"You're right Jaune", she said leaning back into the bed.

"Don't call me right. It makes it sound like we just had a fight or something I won.", he said pulling the blanket up to her neck for her. She smiled mischievously and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you Jaune, for being here for me."

* * *

Yang sat in her bed thinking, both her arms in a cast and bandages wound around the puncture wound in her back, Ruby having fallen asleep. Even though in total the battle only lasted about thirty minutes, with Ruby fighting for less than ten of it, she had exhausted herself along with everyone else. Even Nora had fallen asleep at Ren's side, her head cushioned on his leg. He'd been bandaged up too, as well as Blake from what Ruby was relayed by Weiss. Everyone came out fine, except for her and Pyrrha. Their bodies would heal, but the doctors couldn't help their semblances. The most they could do was an aura specialist who could offer little more information than the doctors. They were told by her that it felt like their souls were fractured. She'd seen it before with hunters and huntresses who had recently suffered emotional tragedies such as the death of loved ones, but never to such an extreme degree. Semblances came from the soul expressing itself, without being hindered by things like self-doubt and fears, appearing as cracks in the soul. Their souls had been fractured, and if they ever healed completely, it would take anywhere from months to even years.

After doing nothing but think about it for over twelve hours now, she'd made up her mind, choosing to stop feeling sorry for herself. Their semblances were important, but their lives had to keep on. This wasn't an isolated incident, or at least wouldn't be for long. They all needed to get stronger. Yang wasn't letting broken arms stop her from helping her friends, especially her sister. Even if it meant breaking her arms over and over, she wouldn't stop training once her arms got out of their casts.

* * *

Glynda sat in what was technically now her office, but she would never consider it anything but his. She'd already set plans in motion to repair Beacon, and after Ironwood combed through his troops for all suspicious parties, the school would be guarded twenty-four seven by foot soldiers.

Glynda sighed before pulling a metal disk out of her pocket, setting it on the desk, and pressing the one button that sat on the rim. The center opened up, revealing a holographic image of Ozpin as he stood on the desk.

"Glynda, I knew that times ahead would be full of danger and uncertainly, but I chose not to be arrogant enough to think that I'd live through it all with certainty. That is why I've decided to relay important information to you and all others through these messages should the worst happen." The hologram looked sadly at the floor, before looking forward again. "I'm sorry that my final mistake, has to be leaving things up to you to finish. If I could have prevented it, then feel free to blame my strong headedness for getting me killed." He chuckled slightly, trying to joke about his death, but he knew that it was futile, and all attempts at hiding it were shown through his eyes.

After Glynda finished the message, she slid the disk into her pocket once more, and pulled out her scroll.

"Hello?" Ironwood said answering the call. He'd just finished picking out the suspicious parties in his army, and was getting ready to interrogate them when Glynda called.

"James, do you know what percent of your men are trustworthy yet?" She asked, stoic.

"About ninety percent, why?" He answered, curious.

"Leave those ten percent in the dark. I know where we can attack first."

* * *

Roman checked over the list on the computer screen, making sure every item was where it was supposed to be. He got up from the rolling chair, and walked down the hall, passing by White Fang foot soldiers that had either returned from the failed invasion of Beacon or were part of the reserve army. He stopped at a door secured with a retinal and fingerprint readers. He took off one of his gloved, scanning his finger, before putting it back on as he scanned his eye. He heard the motor whiz and the door clicking as it unlocked. Opening the door and stepping inside, the automatic light turned on, and he went to work confirming the numbers he'd read. The mundane dusts; fire, ice, lightening, etcetera; were in large and almost uncountable amounts. In this secured room, kept in at maximum one standardized dust cylinder, were different dust types that even the top researchers in the four kingdoms were oblivious to. This dust was synthesized in very precise amounts from the four basic forms, as well as different composite dusts. This was the end game of phase two. This was the basis of the bomb.

* * *

**A/N: So yeah, last week I kept wondering why no was was bringing up the bomb that I though would destroy the wall. Guess I've been thinking about Attack on Titan lately. Anyway, as Cinder put it, "I have big plans for you", and now that I'll be focusing on this only until it's completion, my plans will spread much farther than they ever did before~ mwahahahaha...MWAHAHAHAHA!**


End file.
